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When first announced at the 2011 D23 Expo, the film was presented under the working title of "The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind". In December 2012, Bleeding Cool published an article stating the name of Pete Docter's next film would be The Inside Out.[3] Then on February 8, 2013, ComingSoon.net reported that the film’s title would be Inside Out.[4] Disney/Pixar officially announced the title on Twitter on April 17, 2013 during Cinema Con.[5]

At D23 Expo 2013, it was stated that the story is about Riley, the once happy-go-lucky pre-teen is uprooted from her pleasant life in Minnesota and thrust into a new, unwelcome existence in San Francisco, where she has to find new friends. That’s when the emotions take over, much to the chagrin of her baffled parents. Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness and Joy spar, collaborate, and miscommunicate with one another in an attempt to keep her functioning,[6]

Pixar first revealed the following information on the upcoming film at D23 Expo 2011: "From director Pete Docter comes an inventive new film that explores a world that everyone knows, but no one has seen: inside the human mind."[18]

In an interview with Charlie Rose in early December 2011, John Lasseter revealed the film takes place in a girl's mind, and is about her emotions as characters. In June 2012, he made a similar statement to Bleeding Cool, and gave further details: Template:Quote

Docter said to have first pitched this project's idea in June 2009.[19] He has also stated to have started work on it approximately in October 2009.[20]

Docter said that when thinking about his next project following Up, one of his goals was to make a film that would be new and innovative animation-wise, while keeping with some of his previous themes.[21][22]

Pete Docter took inspiration from the personal experience of watching his daughter Ellie as she grew up into adolescence. It was moving for him, as she seemed to have lost her childhood joy, and became more withdrawn.[23] The film stemmed from his reflection on this, from his perspective as a parent and adult, and on his experience of change in general. He said:[23]Template:Quote

The team consulted psychologists and read numerous different scientific theories regarding the workings of the mind, and the film's design was influenced by what they learned from their research, such as the way memories are managed.[22][24] Much of their work was to simplify complex ideas to get a simple and comprehensible concept.[23][24] Nevertheless, Docter says they are "approaching it from a poetic viewpoint. It’s not even trying to be scientific at all."[23]

At one point the team considered having 27 emotion characters to fit with some scientific theories, but they found during writing that it was too complex.[19][25] The set of emotions in the final film is based on the universal emotions as identified by Paul Ekman, with Surprise being omitted.[26][27] The five emotions also correspond with the eight basic emotions defined by Robert Plutchik's theory, with Trust, Surprise and Anticipation missing.[23] Docter said he would consider Surprise to be the main emotion missing, but said they felt their Fear character covered it already.[19] Other emotions which were considered but not used include Pride and Trust.[19][27]

At the 2013 Siggraph convention, Pete Docter said the story was "one of the most challenging I've ever had to put together", because the film has to tell simultaneously what is happening to Riley and what is happening inside her mind.[28]

Docter has insisted the film's setting is independent from the biological, physical reality of the brain, and that it is rather set in the mind, with a more metaphysical, abstract viewpoint.[29]

Emotions, because of their nature, were made as strong, highly caricatured and distinctive characters, in a way Docter compared to the seven dwarfs from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.[21][24]

Continuing with the idea the mind is independent from reality, and in an effort to have emotions look the way one would feel them, emotions are not made of flesh and blood. As Docter says "They are made up of particles that actually move. Instead of being skin and solid, it is a massive collection of energy."[28]

Similarly, to animate them the team took a style with more stretching and exaggeration of movements than is usual for Pixar, closer to classic cartoon animation.[21] Inspiration was taken from Chuck Jones and Tex Avery, as well as Milt Kahl and John Sibley.[24]

According to Docter, each emotion is based on a basic shape: Sadness on a teardrop, Joy on a star, Fear on a raw nerve, Anger on a fire brick and Disgust on a broccoli.[25]

Regarding how the genders of the emotions were chosen, the process was intuitive, according to Docter; he felt Anger was more masculine, while Sadness was more feminine. Casting was also an influence, notably for Disgust with Mindy Kaling. The main characters were made female also to reflect their location inside a girl's mind. Regarding the emotions of Riley's parents, he said: "We skewed them all male and all female for a quick read, because you have to understand where we are, which is a little phony but hopefully people don't mind!"[19]

About the general design of Riley's mind, Docter said: "Jonas [Rivera] likes to joke that it looks like an Apple store meets It's A Small World. We wanted it to reflect what I think an 11 year-old girl would be interested in without being overly cutesy about it or clichéd. We cast a wide net and this is where we ended up."[19]